REVIEW – THE BLACK KEY by Amy Ewing

Posted November 14, 2016 by Emma in Blog / 5 Comments

The Black Key (The Lone City #3)
by Amy Ewing 
Publisher – Walker Books Ltd
Release Date – October 6th 2016
Buy – Amazon | Book Depository

The third book in Amy Ewing’s New York Times bestselling Lone City trilogy, The Black Key is perfect for fans of The Selection and Red Queen.

Violet and the Society of the Black Key are preparing to launch an attack on the royalty, and Violet has a crucial role to play. She must lead the surrogates as they infiltrate the Auction and break down the walls of the Lone City. But with her sister, Hazel, imprisoned in the palace of the Lake, Violet is torn. In order to save her sister, she must abandon her cause and her friends and return to the Jewel.

My Review

It’s a spoiler free zone!!
I finished this last night… IT’S THE END PEOPLE and I really can’t put into words how emotional, sad and yet utterly ecstatic as to how it ended. I’d like to say first that this is an amazing series and one of my favourite dystopian series to date! It’s beat Divergent and Hunger Games and anything else you can throw at me, I can tell you that The Lone City beats it hand down!!!
The Black Key continues on from the horrifying cliffhanger of The White Rose (waiting over a year for this is torture I might like to add.) Together Violet and the surrogates are stronger than ever. Whilst recruiting more surrogates and showing them their true destiny, The Black Key a cult/ a society against and standing to fight against The Jewel and the royals are nearing their final battle, their final step into destroying the wall between slavery and cruelty to win pure freedom. From the days of the Jewel, Lot 197 no longer exists…Only Violet Lasting, and now is the time to prove and believe in who she is!
It’s quite hard to tell you about this book as I don’t want to spoil it for you. From the moment I started page 1 of The Black Key it’s like I never left the world of the Lone City. But what you need to know is that it is glorious, emotionally touching, amazing and raw and quite simply a stunning finale to such a unique and poignant dystopian series of these last few years. Violet has grown stronger and fiercer than ever, she knows that although being a surrogate was a brutal and soul destroying reality of the Jewel, it was in a way a gift to break out of her shell and be the woman that she is now. Violet was meant to be a born leader and she has come such a long way from “Violet becomes a nobody, just a shell to be protected and shown off to the other Houses.” – from my review of The Jewel. Violet is like a star, she been in the darkest of places, but if you look closely she has become the brightest of stars to shine. As a reader I really couldn’t be more proud of her… she is truley an exceptional, inspiring and one of the bravest characters I know in this genre. 

Not only did The Black Key, or the Lone City series have a kick-ass heroine, but she had a family of characters. The relationships between each of the characters is quite moving and special in every way. Her best friend Raven, oh wow what a friendship, it reminded me of my best friend. Raven and Violet are like sisters that destiny forgot to give each other. But they are so much more powerful than that too. Violet and Lucien are more like father and daughter in so many ways and it’s such an emotional relationship as we get to the final moments of the novel. Finally, Violet and Ash….awwww, I just adore them. Together they are just magnificent, they build each other up and they give each other the belief, strength, hope and most of love of all things they need to achieve.

The Black Key is where it all comes together for the better and/or for the worse. That’s for you to decide if you read it…WAIT!!!! NOT if, WHEN!!!!!!! Like I said at the beginning, I’m so pleased that Walker sent me a proof all those years ago, because every book of this trilogy has been my most anticipated every year. Oh and can we just take a moment too, to appreciate the cover for these, I mean both UK and US are simple gorgeous in their own right…

I will say this again The Lone City has been and will continue to the best YA dystopian ever! It should be nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards thats for sure. It’s addictive, mesmerizing, raw and totally unforgettable! It is the end for Violet Lasting but it’s only the beginning for Amy Ewing. I can’t wait to read her next novel coming 2018 – The Cerulean, a duology!
Rating – 5 Stars 
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5 responses to “REVIEW – THE BLACK KEY by Amy Ewing”

  1. Jasprit

    I remember how much you enjoyed the previous books in this series Emma, so I'm thrilled to see that the final book was another success for you. I will be definitely be giving this series a go when I'm in the mood for a good dystopian series. The covers are also pretty epic!

  2. Keertana

    I'm so glad you enjoyed this one, Emma! I haven't heard much about this series but I'm thrilled that it didn't disappoint. This was never really on my radar before, but thanks for convincing me to give it a shot–great review, dear! 🙂

  3. Melliane

    I was telling myself that I didn't know about this until I saw the other covers, I prefer these ones finally. I heard a lot about the series but haven't tried it

  4. Bec Reader

    I've seen this series around but have been hesitant to check it out after I kept being disappointed by dystopians when the trend was in it's height. But I might need to break my dystopian drought and check these out!